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Published: March 26th 2006
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Sunset on Abby and Benji
Caught this sweet picture of ourselves somewhere on the road. Well time sure flies when you are driving as much as we have been. Fortunately we have been marking on our claendar what we have done so I can give you all a little briefing.
Immediately after our last blog entry we went to the Royal Albatross Colony near Dunedin. We watched the Albatross return to roost for the evening and these birds really are gigantic. If you have seen California Condors you can understand the scale. if not, then just imagine a graceful seagull that is as tall as a five year old!, with a six foot wing-span!! We got some good information from the folks at the Albatross center and we decided to hang out until sunset to watch a group of Little Blue Penguins come ashore for the night. It was nearly pitch black but sure enough about a dozen little (maybe the largest was 12"or 30cm tall) penguins popped out of the water and all raced up the beach as a mob. Once at the top of the beach they lined up single file and started climbing up the dunes to their burrows. This was incredible even though we could barely see.
The next day we headed
Abby in a Boulder
Now we have evidence that Abby arrived on Earth much like superman. Inside the center of a meteorite. up the coast follow some advice from the friendly Albatross folks, and found our way to a Yellow Eyed Penguin colony. These guys were super cool and they came home earlier in the day so we had a good look at them as they emerged from the water maybe one every 15 or 20 minutes and waddled up the beach to climb up the hills to their burrows. As we were leaving the viewing hide at the beach we noticed several penguins socializing on the hillside. These guys are amazing their legs are clearly made for swimming yet they climb steep hills and look natural on land. For more info check out this link
Yellow Eyed Penguins . The same day we also looked at the mysterious Moeraki boulders. (this was an Abby editorial remark, please disregard it as part of Benji's blog entry)
Okay where was I, next day we drove out to Geraldine and spent a tremendous amount of money talking to our parents on the phone. It was well worth it as we caught up on the particulars and got to hear each others voices. We drove this way to get a good view of Mt. Cook (the
Yellow Eyed Penguin
These guys are sweet! tallest peak in new Zealand) but as is often the case the top of the mountain was covered in clouds and we passed by only mildly impressed. Geraldine was pretty mellow and we made brownies and sushi.
Next day we drove towards Christchurch and headed out onto the Banks Peninsula. We made our way to Akaroa which is an old French settlement. It was very French. Not much else to say about this.
Next day we went to Christchurch where we finalized some travel plans for Australia and did some grocery shopping. We left town and headed toward hot spring heaven. Along the way we found a free campground and spent the night.
The next morning we finished the drive to Hanmer Springs and spent far too long soaking in wonderful hot pools of various temperatures. Permanent Holiday is Awesome!!!
The following day we headed over Lewis Pass to Maruia Hot Springs and took a little dip. The springs were quite cool (temperature wise) and we ended up getting our money back. We back tracked over the pass and stopped at Sylvia Flats Hot Springs. These springs are free and were great accept for teh biting flies that swarmed everywhere.
Sunset over Kaikoura
Wow! Traveling is great. You get views like this staying at the Holiday Inn. We had a great soak and then retreated to the semi-safety of our van. The next day we decided to make another stop at Hanmer for a couple of hours and then we went on to Kaikoura where we enjoyed some good old fashioned hamburgers and a great sunset view over the town, the ocean and some snowy peaks on the horizon.
And that brings us to today. We are now in Blenheim and heading to Renwick which is the heart of Marlborough Region wine country. We will be spending two weeks working on a farm/orchard and just plain old relaxing.
We will let you know if anything new develops. We love you all.
Benji and Abby
P.S. Aunt Sharyn, no need to worry the Queensland area of Australia that was hit by the cyclone is very very very very very very very far away from us here. Thanks for your concern we will let everyone know if we are faced with any major catastrophes.
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Papa
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Photos
I hope you are taking lots of photos.Your trip is so interesting that it would be nice to see where you have been. Love Papa and Edie